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The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the Rise of American
Amusements
by Woody Register |
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£5.00
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ISBN Number:
9780195144932
Format: Hardback with dustjacket
Number of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2001
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Inc |
A generation before Walt Disney, Fred
Thompson was the "boy-wonder" of American popular amusements. At the
turn of the 20th century, Thompson's entrepreneurial drive made him
into an entertainment mogul who helped to define the popular culture
of his day. In this lively biography, cultural historian Woody
Register tells the remarkable story of Thompson and examines the
transformation of commerce and entertainment as American society
moved into an era of mass marketing and large-scale corporate
enterprise. Register shows how Thompson got his start as a creator
and promoter of carnival shows and world's fairs, including the
World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and he traces Thompson's
career as one of the principal developers and promoters of Coney
Island (where he built Luna Park) and other amusement parks.
Thompson built the mammoth Hippodrome Theater in Manhattan and
mounted many productions there and on Broadway, noted for their
spectacular (and spectacularly costly) staging effects. Thompson
aggressively marketed to adult consumers a world of make-believe and
childlike play, crafting his own public image as "the boy who never
grew up". Register shows how strongly Thompson's fantasies appealed
to the growing legions of men and women who found themselves in a
world that seemed increasingly "businesslike", profit-oriented, and
regimented.Condition: Mint
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